[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 11 (Friday, January 26, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H917-H920]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 FRENCH NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE IN THE SOUTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from American Samoa [Mr. Faleomavaega] is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I offer my apologies to my colleagues 
and to the American people, for these somewhat rough sketches of 
limited artistic value in terms of what they represent.
  On my immediate right is a picture of what an atomic nuclear 
explosion looks like as it was exploded by the French Government on 
Moruroa Atoll in the South Pacific in 1973. On my extreme right is a 
little chart, and this is not the Polynesian version of a Christmas 
tree, Mr. Speaker, but I just want to demonstrate to the American 
people that Moruroa Atoll looks like in the South Pacific. One of these 
little dots inside this volcanic formation on which the atoll sits 
constitutes one of 181 nuclear bomb explosions that have already taken 
place in this atoll in the South Pacific. Already the French Government 
has conducted five nuclear explosions since French President Chirac 
announced a change of testing policy in June of last year.
  Mr. Speaker, the islands of French Polynesia were what Westerners 
would call colonized by France, after some 500 French soldiers with 
guns and cannons subdued the Tahitian chiefs and their warriors in the 
1840's. I was in Tahiti recently. I joined with some 40 other 
Parliamentarians from the Pacific, Asia, South America, and Europe. Led 
by the mayor of the town of Fa'aa, Mr. Manutahi Temaru, we joined 
together for a demonstration in the streets of Papeete, Tahiti, to 
oppose the resumption of French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. 
Despite international pleadings, protests, and appeals, the Government 
of France resumed nuclear testing at Moruroa Atoll on September 5, 
1995, exploding a nuclear bomb more powerful than the bomb dropped on 
Hiroshima. Sixty miles away on the island of Tureia, brown-skinned 
Polynesian children splashed and played in the ocean waves.
  On August 30, 1995, Mayor Temaru, Vito Haamatua, and myself traveled 
to the island of Tureia. We were joined with the arrival of the Rainbow 
Warrior II and together we headed for Moruroa where France had already 
placed the nuclear bomb in a shaft about 3,000 feet under the atoll. We 
sailed in anticipation of the French Government's announcement that the 
first nuclear explosion would take place on September 1, 1995.
  Believe it or not, Mr. Speaker, the only reason why the French 
Government did not explode the bomb on September 1, was because our 
President was in Hawaii. The Clinton administration told the French 
Government, ``If you explode that bomb while the President is in 
Hawaii, he's going to condemn the nuclear explosion.'' So they extended 
it for a couple of days and the bomb was exploded on September 5.
  As we neared Moruroa, the Rainbow Warrior launched six inflatable 
zodiacs under the nose of French naval warships. The zodiacs were 
manned by young men and women from New Zealand, Italy, Australia, the 
United States, France, and Portugal. These young men and women were not 
commandos or soldiers. They were just ordinary citizens committed to a 
nuclear-free world. As our vessels penetrated waters France claimed 
exclusive rights to, we were arrested by French commandos, held for 16 
hours, then transferred to another vessel, fully enclosed, unaware of 
where we were being taken, and completely prevented from taping an 
account of the seizure. Our cameras and videos were confiscated. Our 
communications system was destroyed.
  France's story is, of course, well-scripted. Its Eurocentric 
rationales for resuming nuclear testing in waters half a world away 
from where its own children play are presented through international 
wire services. France's freely elected spokesperson, President Jacques 
Chirac, insists that the resumption of nuclear testing in South Pacific 
waters is absolutely necessary to improve France's nuclear weapons 
capabilities and that the matter of exploding more nuclear bombs at 
Moruroa Atoll is in the ``highest interest'' of France. The tests, he 
assures the public, are of ``no environmental consequence.''
  Mr. Speaker, the Washington Post a couple of days ago revealed that 
the French Government has now acknowledged that radioactive leakage has 
come out of this atoll. Radioactive iodine 131 can only be created as a 
result of nuclear explosions and causes cancer in humans.
  So goes the story of colonialism supported by American commentators 
like William Buckley who writes:

       What is it the protesters fear? Are the French experiments, 
     conducted 750 miles from Tahiti, endangering anybody in 
     Tahiti? For that matter, are they endangering anybody or 
     anything in Moruroa? Has anybody detected a rise in 
     pollutants in the area where the first tests were undertaken? 
     Has a whale been killed? Two whales? Has $11 million in 
     damage been done to the sea surrounding Moruroa? The answer 
     has to be no, for the simple reason that if it were yes, we 
     absolutely would have heard about it.

  That a nationally syndicated columnist and president and editor-at-
large of the National Review could be so unaware of the effects of 
nuclear testing in relation to the food chain, ocean currents, and a 
people only 750 miles away, is appalling enough. But that a Eurocentric 
commentator could be so naive about the workings of the world and the 
media, suggesting that all issues get equal airplay and if we haven't 
heard about it it must not be so, is almost unforgivable.
  The people of the Pacific, who feel the brunt of colonial reign, have 
their own story to tell. From the island of Tureia, my Polynesian 
cousins tell of early French practices.
  Mr. Speaker, as I was held hostage for 16 hours on the Rainbow 
Warrior, I reflected on a lot of things. Polynesians are not just 
famous navigators. We have a tremendous number of great poets who 
worshiped nature and loved to describe the meanings of life and death 
and love and hatred; all that can be felt and expressed by the human 
mind. During this time, I wrote this little poem dedicated to the 
children of the little atoll of Tureia, and I entitled it ``Tureia 
Atoll.''

                              Tureia Atoll

     Our families own the island you never asked permission to 
           take.
     We fished, picked coconuts, swam freely along the reefs and 
           shores
     Until you, the colonial power in Paris, come to us and say,
     ``We take you to Papeete and give you free ride in the 
           carnival.''
     While we play at your amusement you blow the wind of death 
           from our island of Moruroa.

  The people of Tureia were never consulted about the use of their 
island, Moruroa. They were never asked by the 

[[Page H918]]
French Government if their island could be used as a French nuclear 
testing site. In 1960, they were simply invited to a carnival in 
Tahiti, placed on ferry boats that carried them across the waters for a 
day of amusement. In innocence they played while French colonialists 
decided that the two Pacific atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa would be 
the new sites for the French nuclear testing program. The sites, after 
all, were conveniently located thousands of miles away from the home of 
enlightenment, where certainly to the people of France the testings 
posed little harm and would be of no environmental consequence.
  Since 1960, France exploded 176 nuclear bombs on Moruroa Atoll. By my 
latest count now it is 181 nuclear bombs. On September 1, 1995, the 
count rose to 177. France has since exploded four more nuclear bombs at 
Moruroa and Fangataufa Atolls. Supposedly the last one is to be 
exploded next month. I doubt that. In the truest form of colonial 
aggression, not 1 of the over 200 nuclear bombs France has exploded in 
the past 30 years has been exploded on, above, or beneath French soil. 
Today, France is the only nuclear superpower to test outside of its 
borders.
  France's exploitation of Pacific peoples is a chilling commentary on 
man's inhumanity to man. Like a wild boar on the ocean waves, or a mad 
aberration of 21st century thought, President Chirac's irrevocable 
decision and insistent denial of consequence is what novelist Bernard 
Clavel called the shame of France. We all know nuclear bombs have only 
one purpose. They were created to destroy people. The result is they 
annihilate everything. The people of France know this. President Chirac 
knows this. We all know why France explodes its bombs in French 
Polynesia and not in France. No one wants to subject their homeland to 
this danger, if they have a choice.
  Historically, the people of the Pacific have had little choice. 
Nuclear nations, including France and even our own Nation, have 
consistently deemed Pacific islanders and their way of life expendable. 
In 1954, on Bikini atoll, the United States exploded the ``Bravo 
Shot''--a 15 megaton hydrogen thermonuclear bomb a thousand times more 
powerful than the bomb that we dropped on Hiroshima 50 years ago. 
Before the bomb was exploded, the American officials who conducted this 
experiment discovered that the winds had shifted and that the 300 men, 
women, and children--including our own servicemen that were on this 
island--living on the nearby island of Rongelap, would be put at risk 
by the nuclear detonation and radioactive fallout. Despite the shift in 
the direction of the winds, they exploded the bomb anyway, subjecting 
hundreds of innocent men, women, and children to nuclear contamination. 
I submit that Marshall Islanders residing on nearby Rongelap and Utirik 
atolls justifiably believe they were used as guinea pigs and test 
subjects for United States nuclear radiation experiments conducted 
during this period. Their accounts are well documented.
  Although our Government is making every effort to resettle this 
island and offer monetary compensation to these people, I submit the 
reality is--no amount of money can compensate for the normal health of 
the inhabitants of these islands. According to reports, the women of 
Rongelap gave birth to what many termed ``jelly babies''--babies that 
were born dead and did not appear to look human. Still today, many 
people of Rongelap suffer from cancer, leukemia, and all manner of 
diseases associated with nuclear contamination. For President Chirac to 
so arrogantly contend that these tests are of no environmental 
consequence is to deny the effects of history and marginalize the 
suffering of those who know first-hand the horrors associated with 
nuclear holocaust.
  Mr. Speaker, again on the Rainbow Warrior as I sat there sketching a 
few thoughts in my mind, I wrote another little poem that I entitled 
``Annihilation.''

                              Annihilation

     You appear in a cloud, like a flash from the west that blinds 
           our vision.

     In Tahati Nui, from the Tuamotos, Mangareva, Tubuai, Bora 
           Bora, Raiatea, Taha'a, Nuahive, Tureia, Moruroa and 
           Fangataufa.

     Like poisoned fish that float aimlessly from fissured reefs,
     Death moves slowly toward the people from the sun until it is 
           too late.

     Farani, Farani, what have you done?

  The facts are clear and substantiated. After 30 years of French 
nuclear testing in the South Pacific, French Polynesia's Moruroa atoll 
has been described by scientists as a ``Swiss cheese of fractured 
rock.'' British scientists have confirmed that the volcano underneath 
Moruroa atoll is ``becoming a web of vitrified cavities, from which an 
unknown number of cracks are spreading like spider webs.'' Areas of 
Moruroa atoll have already sunk by 1 meter or more. In fact, Dr. Roger 
Clark, a seismologist at Leeds University, has said that one more test 
could trigger the atoll's collapse, leading to huge cracks opening to 
the sea, threatening fish and other marine life, and ultimately 
jeopardizing the entire marine environment of the Pacific region.

  Epidemic-like outbreaks in surrounding communities have already 
resulted, with symptoms including damage to the nervous system, 
paralysis, impaired vision, and increased cancer rates among Tahitians, 
in particular. There is also a strong link between ciguatera poisoning 
and the destruction of coral reefs from nuclear testing and military 
operations in French Polynesia. Ciguatera poisoning occurs when the 
coral ecology is disturbed, producing toxic plankton that spread 
through the food chain to be eaten by fish, that are then consumed by 
humans. Though it causes no apparent harm to the fish, ciguatera 
poisoning can be fatal to humans. Even if nuclear testing stopped today 
the several Chernobyls' worth of radioactive contaminants encased in 
Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls will require comprehensive scientific 
monitoring for decades to come. Unfortunately, such independent and 
scientific studies have never been authorized by the French Government, 
and it is very unlikely such studies will ever take place due either to 
potential embarrassment to the Government or lack of sufficient 
resources and appropriate technology to remedy the hazards associated 
with nuclear contamination.
  While Chirac espouses his theme of ``no environmental consequence,'' 
he paradoxically denies the people of the South Pacific the most 
fundamental of rights regarding information about the environmental and 
health effects of the French nuclear testing program in Tahiti.

                              {time}  1230

  Mr. Speaker, as a member of the U.S. House Committee on International 
Relations, I introduced House Concurrent Resolution 80 which strongly 
expresses the sense of the Congress for recognition of the concerns of 
some 22 nations and territories of the Pacific concerning this very 
issue.
  I am very hopeful that my Republican colleagues will allow me to 
debate this issue and this resolution on the consent calendar next 
Tuesday, and I have made that request and sincerely hope that this will 
be the case.
  Mr. Speaker, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 
``the five declared nuclear powers have acknowledged conducting a total 
of 2,036 nuclear tests since 1945.'' Approximately 942 of these tests 
have been conducted within the continental United States, 214 in 
Russia, and 306 conducted by the United States, Great Britain, and 
France in Pacific islands and atolls. It was only in June last year 
that the United States, France, and the major nuclear powers promised 
over 170 non-nuclear nations that they would exercise restraint with 
nuclear testing and would work toward a comprehensive test ban treaty. 
Despite reservations, these commitments were accepted at face value by 
the non-nuclear nations, which make up the vast majority of the 
countries of the world, and it was only with the support of the non-
nuclear nations that permanent extension of the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty was gained. One month later, French President 
Jacques Chirac's actions indicated France was more than willing to 
undermine the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty--all in the name of 
national interest to ensure the reliability of its nuclear arsenal. 
However, nuclear physicists contend that the safety and reliability of 
nuclear weapons could be ensured by non-nuclear tests utilizing 
computer technology. 

[[Page H919]]

  Mr. Speaker, here is the point. The French Government did not need to 
explode these nuclear bombs. We even offered the French Government the 
technology they sought, so there was no justifiable reason for 
detonating additional nuclear bombs.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, 60 percent of the French people were against 
the idea of resuming nuclear testing in the South Pacific. I find it 
deplorable, Mr. Speaker, that one of the five leading nuclear 
superpowers is willing to reopen the global arms race and encourage 
nuclear proliferation at the expense of world peace.
  I further find it abhorrent that the United States is acting somewhat 
in complicity with the actions of the French Government. Though the 
United States has gone on record in condemning France's resumption of 
nuclear testing, it continues to allow French military aircraft to 
overfly United States airspace while enroute to France's testing site 
in the South Pacific.
  According to the State Department, France's DC-8 supply planes are 
permitted to stop over on the West Coast on their way to Moruroa atoll. 
Reports suggest that these planes likely are carrying nuclear materials 
and bomb components, yet the State Department declares that it does not 
know what is on board these planes.

  For the State Department to abdicate its responsibility in 
determining the contents on board these supply planes is a travesty, 
Mr. Speaker. And, moreover, facilitating French aircraft to supply a 
nuclear testing program that we oppose smacks of hypocrisy, in my 
humble opinion.
  Mr. Speaker, the question now on the table for non-nuclear nations 
is: Do we depend on nuclear nations to restore morality through 
treaties and bans, or do we call on good people to hold their 
governments accountable for violations of international disarmament 
agreements?
  ``If men were angels,'' James Madison wrote in The Federalist Papers, 
``no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, 
neither external nor internal controls on government would be 
necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men 
over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the 
government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to 
control itself.''
  Mr. Speaker, nuclear bomb explosions constitute the ultimate rape of 
any nation. This planet has already been ravaged by more than 2,036 
nuclear bomb explosions. Mr. Speaker, 179 of those bombs have been 
exploded by France in waters the legendary Polynesian God Taaroa gave 
the people of Polynesia. For France to continue to explode its nuclear 
bombs among a peaceful people living half a world away from the borders 
of France, I submit Mr. Speaker, is colonialism in its worst form.
  No ``higher interest'' can excuse such callous and horrific action. 
The Government of France should be obliged to control itself. It is 
time to stop the madness and take up the fight of holding nuclear 
nations accountable for the violent rape of non-nuclear nations, 
peoples, and environments, until angels govern men.
  I want to share with my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, another little poem 
that I wrote while being held in custody on the Rainbow Warrior for 16 
hours. I termed it ``The God Taaroa.''

     And the god Taaroa divided the waters from the waters and 
           gathered the people from the sun unto one place called 
           The Seas.

     And the god Taaroa let the dry land appear and gathered the 
           people of France together unto one place, and it was 
           so.

     And he saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning 
           were the third day.

     And god Taaroa said, let them have dominion.

     And darkness mushroomed upon the face of the deep.

  Mr. Speaker, I want to share with my colleagues an article that 
appeared in the Honolulu Advertiser of this month, in fact, just last 
week, and the fact that in a major speech by Pope John Paul II, from 
the Vatican City, he made a special pleading to diplomats from 161 
countries of the world to stop nuclear testing. I hope President Chirac 
is listening to the Pope's plea on behalf of the people of the world to 
stop this madness.
  Mr. Speaker, 2 days ago, there was an extensive article written by 
Mr. Thomas Kamm in the Wall Street Journal concerning France and its 
colonial empire, or whatever is left of it, particularly the French 
colony known as French Polynesia, as I discussed earlier, and the main 
Island of Tahiti which is approximately the same size as the Island of 
Oahu in the State of Hawaii. For the benefit of my colleagues, the 
Island of Oahu is where Honolulu is situated.
  Immediately after World War II, in recognizing that France needed to 
catch up with the so-called nuclear power nations, the late President 
Charles DeGaulle decided to conduct nuclear testings, and he did this 
originally in the deserts of what was then a French colony called 
Algeria.
  Mr. Speaker, something happened. The Algerians decided to kick the 
French out, and it cost 1 million lives of the Algerian people before 
French colonialism in that part of the world in Africa was terminated. 
So President DeGaulle looked around and said, ``Geez, if I cannot test 
nuclear bombs in Algeria, where can I go?'' So he directed his military 
officers and said, ``Look out in the vast French Empire and find where 
else I can test.''
  Mr. Speaker, they looked around and they came to the Pacific region 
where France has several colonies; one in New Caledonia, another in 
Wallis and Futuna, and unfortunately one in French Polynesia. It was 
there that they decided this is where the French nuclear testing 
program was going to be reborn.
  President DeGaulle promised the Tahitians tremendous prosperity and 
that many goods would be brought in, initially saying, ``We are just 
going to be there to build airports.'' To the dismay and disappointment 
of the Tahitian leaders and people, they later realized what was to 
become of their fate in years to come; that the nuclear testing program 
was to be done in their islands.
  The article in the Wall Street Journal was very persuasive, in my 
humble opinion, Mr. Speaker, and explains the grandeur of the French 
Empire and the cost of some $10 billion for this nuclear testing 
program that they have conducted in French Polynesia.
  There is tremendous social turmoil right now among the 200,000 
Tahitian Polynesian people living there, wanting to know whether they 
should still consider themselves French, should that seek independence, 
or should they seek some form of autonomy. There are good reasons and 
bad reasons, and for those who are earnestly seeking to provide more 
self-autonomy and perhaps even independence, I quote from the article 
an observation of what seems to be the sentiment among the young people 
in French Polynesia. I quote from a young man who said,

       The French run everything here: the State, the airport, the 
     port, economic life, everything, and we have nothing. To get 
     a job here, you need a French diploma. But I am not French. I 
     am Maohi. The French are colonialists. We are at home here, 
     and we are treated like dogs.

  There is no question there have been a lot of economic benefits 
brought with this so-called prosperity, Mr. Speaker. However, the $10 
billion investment by the French Government promotes not the needs of 
the Tahitians, I promise my colleagues, but the enhancement of its 
nuclear testing program. That is all it is.

  Mr. Speaker, there is currently a conference going on right now in 
Geneva, the Conference on Disarmament, where the Honorable John Holum, 
Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, is pleading 
with the conferees on negotiations for the Comprehensive Test Ban 
Treaty.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to quote a statement from our President to the 
members of the conference.

       A comprehensive test ban treaty is vital to constrain both 
     the spread and further development of nuclear weapons, and it 
     will be helpful to our mutual pledges to denounce the nuclear 
     arms race and more towards the ultimate goal of a world free 
     of nuclear arms.

  But we have got a little problem with this, Mr. Speaker. In the 
article in the Washington Post today, the state of India, through its 
ambassador and representative to this conference said, ``Wait a minute. 
You want us to sign onto this test ban treaty, but you do not want to 
get rid of your nuclear bombs.'' Now, does not it seem silly?

[[Page H920]]

  Mr. Speaker, it seems that these non-nuclear nations are getting very 
leery about the double standard that the nuclear powers are pressing on 
them, to say that we are going to sign onto a nuclear test ban treaty, 
but the nuclear nations continue to have the nuclear weapons and we do 
not know who they are pointed at.
  India said, ``No, we are not going to agree to that unless there is 
an additional agreement, and that is to get rid of all nuclear weapons, 
all nuclear bombs.'' It seems that the nuclear powers are having 
problems with that idea. India has already exploded a nuclear bomb 
device in 1974. It was the only nuclear bomb explosion India conducted 
and proved to the world India had the technology to also produce 
nuclear warheads if it wanted to.
  But from my readings and meetings with the leaders of this great 
democratic nation, the largest democracy in the world, by the way, Mr. 
Speaker, they are committed to getting rid of nuclear weapons 
altogether, but somehow there seems to be a difficulty among the 
nations that currently have in their possession nuclear warheads and 
bombs. So we sign onto a test ban treaty, but the nuclear superpowers 
still want to hold on to their nuclear bombs. To me, that seems to be a 
contradiction of the first order.
  Mr. Speaker, as I have stated earlier to my colleagues, next week on 
Thursday, the President of France has been invited to address a Joint 
Session of the Congress. President Chirac is going to be here to share 
with our President, I suppose, and the leaders of the Congress, his 
wisdom on how to conduct foreign policy.
  Mr. Speaker, this is really funny. There was an article in the New 
York Times that came out yesterday where in several instances French 
officials anonymously dropped a leak here and a leak there saying, 
``This is what we are going to share with American leaders when our 
President comes to Washington.''
  Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate, I do not see why we should be 
coming to listen to the speech when he has said: This is what I am 
going to talk about. Unbelievable. First President Chirac is going to 
tell the American leaders and our people that we are not doing enough 
in the Bosnian crisis. France is going to be the leader, or play a very 
preeminent role in representing, I suppose, the European countries, 
whatever that means, and to let the United States know that it is not 
to do this unilaterally, even though we have been successful in the 
Dayton agreements and the talks that transpired in recent weeks.

  Second, Mr. Speaker, another suggestion that we are going to be 
hearing from President Chirac is that our Government is not giving 
enough foreign aid to Third World countries. Give me a break, Mr. 
Speaker. I would like to remind President Chirac who has been providing 
security for Europe, including France, for some 50 years during the 
cold war when President DeGaulle unilaterally decided to pull out of 
NATO.
  Mr. Speaker, do my colleagues know the reason why DeGaulle wanted to 
pull out of NATO? Because he did not like the idea that the United 
States was playing too great of a role in the politics and the security 
of European countries. Can my colleagues believe that? DeGaulle even 
demanded that the United States troops that were then stationed in 
France leave in 60 days.
  What was the response of our Government? ``President DeGaulle, does 
that also include the 10,000 soldiers that lie buried in French soil to 
free you from Nazi Germany?'' That is the arrogance that we get from 
the leaders of this Government.
  Third, Mr. Speaker, I might also add to my colleagues that President 
Chirac is going to have another suggestion for us. He is going to 
suggest to our Republican colleagues that we cannot afford to force our 
Government into bankruptcy or default because it will have serious 
economic consequences to the economy of France, to Europe and other 
nations of the world.
  Mr. Speaker, that is a real interesting lecture. He should be an 
expert on it, with about a 20 percent popularity rating in France, 
serious strikes where millions of French workers are outraged that his 
Government did not provide for their needs, and the problems affecting 
the economy of France as it now stands.
  Last, Mr. Speaker, President Chirac is also going to suggest to my 
colleagues that we are not fulfilling our responsibilities as a world 
leader. Do you believe that, Mr. Speaker? He is going to give us some 
pointers. He is going to suggest how we can go about becoming a better 
world leader, as if the Government of France is a world leader itself. 
Excuse me, Mr. Speaker. I think he needs to have a couple more lessons.
  Mr. Speaker, I can just imagine the logistic problems we are going to 
have before President Chirac gives his enshrined speech before us next 
week.
  Mr. Speaker, I am going to address a little more extensively sometime 
next week a very special person that I certainly admire, who not only 
have his portrait in our Chamber, but certainly the spirit of that man 
lives on. I have learned to respect the contributions that he has made 
not only as a great French patriot, but as a firm believer in democracy 
and the principles of human rights at the time that we were a colony of 
the British Empire.
  Mr. Speaker, I make reference, briefly, to the Marquis de Lafayette. 
As my colleagues will note, there are only two murals depicting not 
only our first President, but this great French patriot.
  Mr. Speaker, I am saddened to share with my colleagues the commentary 
that I wish the Government and the leader of France could be a little 
more positive and helpful with regard to the serious problems that we 
now face in the world. I wish that they would immediately cease 
exploding these nuclear bombs. If the test are so safe, why are they 
not done under the Eiffel Tower, in Marseille, or in Paris?
  Mr. Speaker, it is a sad commentary that here is a leading democracy 
of the world playing colonial mostly in the ugliest way, and I wish and 
hope that my colleagues would share the concerns of the millions of 
people around the world, the leaders of some 166 nations protesting, 
pleading and asking President Chirac: Do not explode these nuclear 
bombs. But despite all of that, Mr. Speaker, he just went ahead and 
exploded them.
  Do you think, Mr. Speaker, this man deserves our presence here? I 
respectfully submit, Mr. Speaker, he does not, I hope that my 
colleagues will join me by not being in this Chamber when President 
Chirac addresses the Congress next week.

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